My companion and I have been clients of (nee) Smith Barney for over 15 years. With the retirement of our long-time Financial Advisor and his replacement by one Stephen Gottlieb, and the subsequent acquisition of smith Barney by Morgan Stanley, we were subjected to a decreasing level of service and an increasing level of fees. My partner withdrew her substantial investments in December. Because I had closed my IRA in 2009 to purchase a retirement home, and had been essentially out of work for over a year, my two money market accounts had dwindled to very small amounts. I was shocked to find in January, without forewarning, that MSSB had deducted annual fees from each of my accounts, something they had never done before. The final straw: Last week my companion wrote me a check (of less than $500) in order to close her remaining money market account; when the check was presented for payment, MSSB immediately deducted the anuual fee from her account, causing the check to be an overdraft. We were both charged overdraft fees. In our attempts to communicate, it has become evident that Stephen Gottlieb believes that such retaliation makes for good customer relations.

My 99 1/2 year old mother had her retirement account at Smith Barney. Her account manager was told by both her and I in a face to face meeting that she wanted no risk securities and CDs. This week when her account was liquidated to buy an annuity, it was discovered that her account had shrank in value by one third and a significant portion of her money was in... stocks. Which they were specifically told not to do. Just what a 99 1/2 year old woman needs, gambling her money on the stock market during the worst economic downturn since the great depression.

Way to go Smith Barney!